Gegner

Forms

Gegner m (genitive Gegners, plural Gegner, feminine Gegnerin)^[1] In the 17th century the form Gegener was still used beside Gegner.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle Low German gēgenēre (“adversary”), an agent noun from Middle Low German gēgenen (“to meet, come towards”), which was derived from the adverb and preposition gegen.^[3][4][5][1] The verb corresponds to Old High German gaganen (“to go to meet, encounter”) and Middle High German gegenen, which survives in begegnen and entgegnen.^[3][6][5] Dutch jegener (“opponent”) is the same formation.^[1]

Kluge, Duden and Wahrig take the word as a loan translation of Latin adversārius (“adversary”), with the German preposition standing for adversus (“opposite”);^[7][4][8] Pfeifer and Paul call this probable.^[3][5]

The sources date its spread from the north differently: Kluge says it became standard in the 16th century, and Pfeifer that High German took it over at the beginning of that century,^[7][3] while Paul puts the adoption in the first half of the 17th century, citing Schottelius in 1641, and Duden says it prevailed in Upper German from the 17th century.^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears in Low German legal texts of the 14th century, for the opponent in a lawsuit: Johann von Buch's Richtsteig Landrechts says that the losing party must pay a fine to the judge and compensation sîme jegenêre “to his opponent”, where most manuscripts still have the older wedersaken.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the court the word passed, at first euphemistically, to the enemy in war (zum Gegner überlaufen), and then generally to a person or power that opposes someone or something, as in compounds like Regimegegner and Kernkraftgegner.^[5] In the 17th century it was used in Upper German too, though in coarse speech and in poetry rather than in formal legal language, which preferred Gegenteil and Gegenpart.^[2] Today it is also the usual word in sport for the opposing player or team.^[5][9]

The adjective gegnerisch is recorded from 1731, and Gegnerschaft from 1806, in Fichte.^[5]

Timeline

• 14th century – Middle Low German gēgenēre appears in legal texts.^[3][2]
• 16th century – The word becomes standard High German, according to Kluge.^[7]
• 1641 – Schottelius uses the word, the first High German record that Paul cites.^[5]
• 1731 – First record of gegnerisch.^[5]
• 1806 – Fichte uses Gegnerschaft.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An opponent or adversary of a person or a cause: Sie ist eine entschiedene Gegnerin der Atomkraft.^[9][1]
2. (sports) The opposing player or team: Der Gegner war uns heute klar überlegen.^[9]
3. The enemy in war: Die Truppen zogen sich vor dem Gegner zurück.^[9][5]

Word family

• Gegnerin
• gegnerisch
• Gegnerschaft

Related words

• gegen
• begegnen
• entgegnen

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 5, 2306
3. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
4. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 307
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
6. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 4, 9
7. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 340
8. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
9. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag